Local Sales Tax Mod - Support Thread

That was the file! I guess I missed it (my eyes did start crossing at a certain point.) It's installed, as I said, but I don't know how to integrate it.
Not being very SQL literate, I'm learning an awful lot these last couple of days. If you can tell me what I'm missing, I would greatly appreciate it.
And thanks for pointing me to that file. I did searches, advanced searches, manual searches, and it just didn't come up!

- Russ

Russ,
The the admin under tools is an option called install sql patches.
You can either copy and paste the contents of that file into the text box or you can upload the file there to be run.

A few things before you do this.
Do a back up of you database first. That file is somewhat old and I do not know how current it is or if the structure is compatible with the current version of the mod.

You might want to try contacting the origional author to see if they have a current file they might be will to share with you instead of trying to work with a file that is quite old.

Good Luck!
LadyHLG

Hi,
I ended up just re-doing the whole tax thing - it went to 4 pages. I posted this in the forum, but didn't get any replies. Perhaps you could advise me on the correct procedure? Thanks - btw, the add-on works perfectly!

======================

I'm using LadyHLG's Local Tax add-on. I just spent a considerable amount of time entering in the NY State sales tax, divided by county (ordered by zip codes with the message "xxx county & NYS Sales Tax).

It was a horrible boring nasty bit of work and I don't want anyone else to have to go through it. How can I share my work so other people can use it?

Hi,

I am using Zen Cart v1.3.8a/v1.3.8

does the LadyHLG module still work or do I not need it with this version?

if I do where can I find the 2.2 version?

Thanks.

Russ,
If you like to you can offer your sql download here in this thread, its where most people do, or I guess you could submit it to the downloads section of this site. At least that way the sql could be easily found and people wouldn't have to guess as to how old it is or its compatibility.
Let me know if you need help with this and thank-you for the contribution!


webman1,
The Local Sales Tax Mod works with version v1.3.8a/v1.3.8.
You can download version 2.3 and 2.2 HERE.

LadyHLG

Thanks - I hate to say it, but I do need help with that. How do I best export it so that it can be used by someone else without issue? I'm not even sure how it works - that is, will it automatically get put into the right table on a different database?
My table (for your add-on) is tax_rates_local, which I renamed from zen_tax_rates_local. No idea why it added "zen_" to the name, as there was no other table by that name.
Anyway, your help is, as always, greatly appreciated!

- Russ

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LadyHLG

webman1,
The Local Sales Tax Mod works with version v1.3.8a/v1.3.8.
You can download version 2.3 and 2.2 HERE.

LadyHLG

---

Great. I have it installed but need to know what you mean by suburb is that county? I see no dropdown for that n the customer fields.

thanks again.

Using zen cart 1.3.8a. Want to use local sales tax module. current download v. 2.3 is upgrade to v. 2.2. Told to load v. 2.2 first but can not find where to download original v. 2.2. Any suggestions (or link to appropriate site) appreciated.

gallantwarrior,
Version 2.2 is available in the downloads where you found version 2.3. Just scroll down a bit and look for version 2.2 at the bottom of the info it says:

2.2 Download includes files for New Install and Upgrade files for version 2.0a and up.
Author: LadyHLG
Version: 2.2
Zen Cart™ Version: v1.3.8
Update added on Oct 09 2008
Download Now!
File size: 30231 bytes


webman1,
The "suburb" field is the second address field in the customer address info. In the past, some people have set that up to use as a county field, but it is not used as that by default.



Russ,
You need to export the entire table and data into an sql file using whatever sql interface you prefer. (I use a program called SQLyog).

The "zen_" is a table prefix, some people use them, some do not, but when exporting for others to use you do not want it on there, so the table name should just be "tax_rates_local".
Does that help?


LadyHLG

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LadyHLG

webman1,
The "suburb" field is the second address field in the customer address info. In the past, some people have set that up to use as a county field, but it is not used as that by default.
LadyHLG

---

so what do you suggest for NY? is there a way to add a field or change that second address field name?

thanks again.

webman1,
You can change that field but it requires a bit of hacking to accomplish.
I would need to know more about the tax rules for NY before I can make a specific recommendation as to how to set things up.

LadyHLG

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LadyHLG

webman1,
You can change that field but it requires a bit of hacking to accomplish.
I would need to know more about the tax rules for NY before I can make a specific recommendation as to how to set things up.

LadyHLG

---

there are taxed by county. so when you ship to that county you have to charge sales tax for that county. I have a list of the counties and tax rates.

what page should I hack?

thanks again.

webman1,
I'm afraid I dont know specifically which pages will require hacking to make that into a county field. You could try doing a search through the forums for this, its been a while since I saw anything about it.

As an alternative, you may want to look into the option of setting up counties as zones instead of hacking the pages.
There are directions in the readme file for the Local Sales Tax mod on how do set up each county as a zone.

LadyHLG

I edited the english.php file and it seems to be working. I'll let you know my progress if it does not kill me.:smile:

Florida County Surtax Rates by Zipcode 2009

The attached zip contains a plain text file with a current list of Florida county surtax rates broken down by zipcode. It's already formatted for use with the Local Sales Tax Mod 2.3. I've been testing it for about a month with no problems. Hope this saves someone some time.

Please Note:

-Florida counties and zipcodes aren't contiguous; i.e., hundreds of zipcodes span 2 or even 3 counties. In these instances, the list assigns the zipcode to the county containing the greater population (for that zipcode). If a buyer says they've been charged an incorrect surtax, don't assume they're wrong; do a little investigating with google maps.

-The list is current through December 2009. Several county surtax rates are supposed to change in 2010.

I'm attaching the NY State local tax database, compatible with LadyHLG's Local Sales Tax add-on. It is current as of 8/25/09, and includes the MTA surcharge for applicable areas.

Installation: make sure you have the add-on enabled in "Modules - Order Total". Use "Locations/Taxes - Zone Definitions " to enable NY as a zone. Don't forget to double click on the little folder to the left and configure it for United States. If you have a red dot next to the name, you didn't do that step and it actually tells you that it's not configured.

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO CONFIGURE A TAX RATE. If you've done this right, you should have a yellow dot next to the name.

Use Tools - Install Sql Patches to install my database.

Troubleshooting:

If you don't see anything after this in "locations - Local Sales Taxes", there may be confusion about the table name. Go into your database using whatever your provider offers (MyPHP, etc.) and take a look at the tables in the database. You may have a table called "zen_tax_rate_local." BUT, you may ALSO have a table called "zen_zen_tax_rate_local"! If so, you need to check the zen_tax_rate_local and see if it actually contains anything. You can tell because if it's empty, it won't let you click on the "browse" button. If that's the case, here's what you do:

delete the zen_tax_rate_local table by clicking on it, then click on the Drop tab that's furthest to the right. If you don't see a "Drop" tab, you didn't click on the actual table name, so do that now.

Now, click on the zen_zen_tax_rate_local table, and click on the operations tab. Rename the table to zen_tax_rate_local. Bada bing! Now the rates should appear. :clap:

The local tax module is working GREAT, but I wanted to add a discount to one of my products (6 for $5, instead of $1 each). Since I couldn't get it to work using the built-in stuff, I used the add-on discount module:
http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?ma...roducts_id=235

While that works, the tax is calculated based on the original total - not the discounted total. I tried changing the priorities of the discount and tax, but no matter how I set them, it still gave the wrong amount. If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it!

Russ-
Discounting and Local taxes have been a problem for a while.
The issue is because of tax classes. Because the Local Tax Mod is set up to calculate tax based on tax classes, a subtotal is determined for all items in whatever specific tax class the local tax is applied to. Then the local tax is based on that subtotal.
If a discount is applied to the cart total the mod has no way of knowing how much of that discount is applied to each tax class.

I'm sure there must be a way to do this, I just haven't been able to figure it out yet.

LadyHLG

Hello LadyHLG

Thank you for this mod, I couldnt try it yet, I need to make sure it will solve my problem

I have a shop that will launch soon but the checkout does not count taxes

also when a customer is not logged in, he sees the right price (including taxes) when she is logged in, she sees prices without taxes (I dont want that)

Do you have any idea how to solve this please and if the mod will fix it? (I dont want to complicate the problem if I install another mod)

I appreciate your kind help

joudesign,
This sounds like an issue with your default cart settings. The mod wont take care of this so you will need to find the right settings in the admin. I would suggest posting and searching in the General Questions forum for some assistance, hopefully someone there will be able to point you in the right direction as to where the setting are that are causing problems.
Be prepared to give as detailed a description of what is happening as you can.

Good Luck!
LadyHLG

Hello, LadyHLG.

I absolutely love your local sales tax module and have it working with all 1700+ cities in California. But I have two questions...
1) If a customer enters their city name without proper capitalization, it doesn't get charged tax. I saw a fix on the old forum posting but it doesn't seem to work now. Any ideas?
2) Do you know of any way to correlate the zip code and city (or look up the city based on zip code) to make sure they are properly related?

Thanks again for an incredibly useful mod.

Rob

Rob,
1. As far as my testing has shown the following should work to take care of the city capitalization issue.
At or about line 168:
Change: This

Code:

---

if($myfield == $value){

---

to this

Code:

---

if(strtolower($myfield) == strtolower($value)){

---

From what I have seen that works.
If it is not working for you then I will need a more specific example.

2. Unfortunately, the only way this can be done is with some kind of outside address verification, perhaps with the USPS.
I am almost positive the USPS offers this kind of online service but a mod would have be to be written to accomplish it (if there isn't one already, I haven't checked).

LadyHLG

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by therealex

I'm attaching the NY State local tax database, compatible with LadyHLG's Local Sales Tax add-on. It is current as of 8/25/09, and includes the MTA surcharge for applicable areas.

Installation: make sure you have the add-on enabled in "Modules - Order Total". Use "Locations/Taxes - Zone Definitions " to enable NY as a zone. Don't forget to double click on the little folder to the left and configure it for United States. If you have a red dot next to the name, you didn't do that step and it actually tells you that it's not configured.

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO CONFIGURE A TAX RATE. If you've done this right, you should have a yellow dot next to the name.

Use Tools - Install Sql Patches to install my database.

Troubleshooting:

If you don't see anything after this in "locations - Local Sales Taxes", there may be confusion about the table name. Go into your database using whatever your provider offers (MyPHP, etc.) and take a look at the tables in the database. You may have a table called "zen_tax_rate_local." BUT, you may ALSO have a table called "zen_zen_tax_rate_local"! If so, you need to check the zen_tax_rate_local and see if it actually contains anything. You can tell because if it's empty, it won't let you click on the "browse" button. If that's the case, here's what you do:

delete the zen_tax_rate_local table by clicking on it, then click on the Drop tab that's furthest to the right. If you don't see a "Drop" tab, you didn't click on the actual table name, so do that now.

Now, click on the zen_zen_tax_rate_local table, and click on the operations tab. Rename the table to zen_tax_rate_local. Bada bing! Now the rates should appear. :clap:

---

therealex, thanks for this table! Very useful to those of us developing in NYC...

As of Sept 1, 2009 the tax rates have changed. While I was updating the rates in the table, I also **slightly** improved the table to bring it more in line with NYS Dept of Taxation & Finance Publication 718 - tax rates by jurisdiction code. I combined all the county labels for NYC by renaming Kings, Queens, etc to 'New York City' and also added in the city exceptions to the county rates as outlined in Pub 718 (such as "Ithaca City Tax").

Since zip codes to not accurately define cities and tax jurisdictions, I make no warranty or claims as to the accuracy of your NYS Sales Tax returns based on this table. The only way to be 100% accurate is to use the NYS Sales Tax Jurisdiction and Rate Lookup (located here: http://www8.nystax.gov/STLR/stlrHome). However, they provide no API, so you can't do the lookup programmatically at the time of online sale.

This updated table is meant to replace your zen_tax_rates_local table via a complete INSERT, which means you should backup(EXPORT) and DROP your table first. Then just IMPORT the new table from the .sql file you downloaded and unzipped.
Here's the updated table (enjoy!):

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LadyHLG

Rob,
1. As far as my testing has shown the following should work to take care of the city capitalization issue.
At or about line 168:
Change: This

Code:

---

if($myfield == $value){

---

to this

Code:

---

if(strtolower($myfield) == strtolower($value)){

---

From what I have seen that works.
If it is not working for you then I will need a more specific example.

2. Unfortunately, the only way this can be done is with some kind of outside address verification, perhaps with the USPS.
I am almost positive the USPS offers this kind of online service but a mod would have be to be written to accomplish it (if there isn't one already, I haven't checked).

LadyHLG

---

Thanks very much for the quick response. I look forward to trying this and will report back.

Rob

How should I set up sales tax for Georgia?

• Georgia has about 160 counties.
• Each county has it's own sales tax rate (6-7%).
• The rate is determined by state tax (4%) and varies local taxes (3-4%).
• The rates can change throughout the year.
• A special issue applies to one city (Atlanta), which is located in one county (county sales tax), but charges another 1% city sales tax. This depends on the zip code (city-boundary) and not the city name itself. How can I make sure that Atlanta customer within/-out the city-boundary get charged correctly?

Do I have to create for each county a tax rate? How can I handle the special situation of Atlanta? Would be the Local Sales Tax Module the right choice?

Old Cow,
Here is my suggestion as to how to set up your local tax for Georgia.

1. I would set up each county in Georgia as a zone (sorry this is a long process but it really is the best way). This doesn't actually require the Local Tax mod to do.
There are detailed instructions in the readme for the Local Tax Mod on how to do this. You could also check out the forums to see if anyone else has already done this for your state, it might save you some time.

2. Use the Local Tax Mod to set up the special Atlanta tax by zip code.

I hope that helps.
Let me know if you have any questions.

LadyHLG

Thank you. "Use the Local Tax Mod to set up the special Atlanta tax by zip code" seems to be very difficult (no tables available, only a Address Verification Look-up). Hopefully I find a source who went through this.

Do you know how many zip codes in Atlanta are there to set up?

LadyHLG

I do not know yet. The only link on Georgia's website I found was to a zip folder, which contains an Office Access database with over 200,000 street addresses, but no zip codes. I better try to get more information. This looks very intense.

Old Cow,
I wish I could offer some guidance here but I'm afraid there isn't much I can say other than to perhaps call your State Taxing authority and see what they say (is there a way to determine the Atlanta Tax via zip code or is this only by street address).

Good Luck!

LadyHLG

I will do so. Any suggestions, where I should post this on ZenCart support to find other "Georgia" users?

I would start with the main Currencies & Sales Tax forum Here.

LadyHLG

I am having an issue and I can't figure out why. I have the local sales tax mod installed sucessfully, it adds in the tax during the order total but it does not show the sales tax being added in. I tried changing the sort order and I'm getting really frustrated :(. Please help me and let me know if there is anything you think I should try.

Thanks in advanced.

Allen

Generally this is a sort order issue.
Do you have any other order total mods installed?

LadyHLG

Thanks for the quick reply, but no I don't. I've attached a screenshot of the OrderTotalMods page so you can see what I see. I'm so confused :(.

I'm afraid I can't see much from there.
What order do you have the tax and local tax in?
LadyHLG

Okay, I got it working by renabling the "Tax" module but now it shows "sales tax" - $0.00 but Local Sales Tax $X.XX. How do i do it so it doesn't show the sales tax.

These are the sort orders:

Order Total Modules
Modules Sort Order Action
COD Fee ot_cod_fee
Discount Coupon ot_coupon 300
Group Discount ot_group_pricing
Gift Certificates ot_gv 250
Local Sales Taxes ot_local_sales_taxes 100
Low Order Fee ot_loworderfee
Shipping ot_shipping 150
Sub-Total ot_subtotal 50
Tax ot_tax 200
Total ot_total 999

Thats a setting in the admin under
Configuration -> My Store -> Sales Tax Display Status

LadyHLG

Here is an example of what I'm talking about.

Your Total
$62.00Sub-Total:
$30.07United Parcel Service (1 x 3.00lbs) (Next Day Air):
$0.00Sales Tax: <-----HOW DO I GET RID OF THIS?
$8.06 13456 Oneida County & NYS Sales Tax 8.75%:
$100.13Total:

YES! You're the best. Thank you so so so much for all of your help. I really appreciate it!!!

You are welcome!
Have a nice evening.
LadyHLG

Alright, it was working last night and now it's not again. I calculates the tax, but it does not show it. I didn't change anything from last night so I don't know what could be causing this. Please get back to me and let me know.

Thanks,
Allen

Are you testing with the same data? ie same address, same product?

LadyHLG

Same address but I've been trying different products and none of them work. :\

Unfortunately I'm not sure what to suggest given that it was working previously. Have you turned on the debugging?

LadyHLG

Yeah I tried debugging

I put up three images for you to look at. Let me know if you see anything obvious wrong with my settings. The first picture is the sort order, the second is an order showing the Tax at $0.00 but the local tax is calculated in. The third is it with debugging mode on.

Thanks for looking.

http://www.astalkerdesign.com/untitled.JPG

http://www.astalkerdesign.com/untitled.JPG

http://www.astalkerdesign.com/untitled.JPG

Switch the local tax so that it is before the Cart tax (ie- lower number).

LadyHLG

This is what it is at now..still doesn't seem to be working..hmmm

http://www.astalkerdesign.com/untitled.bmp

I'm afraid I dont know what to suggest at this point, given that the mod was working and no longer is.
The only other thing I can think to suggest (if you haven't already tried it) is to uninstall and reinstall the mod. (This wont effect your data tax data at all.
Also I did notice on the first set of screen shots you sent that the first two zone matches didnt have any Tax Name. Is there a reason those are blank?

LadyHLG

I'm sorry I haven't been looking close enough at the screen shots.
In the first set you sent the local tax mod is NOT matching to anything.
So usually that means either the data is not matching correctly (ie zip code or city name error) or the items you are testing with are not in the correct tax class.

LadyHLG

Hi,

I cant seem to get the actual words Sales tax next to the :

I will upload a screen shot.

can you help?

Thanks.

The tax label is based on the tax description field.

LadyHLG

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LadyHLG

The tax label is based on the tax description field.

LadyHLG

---

Hi LadyG,

I have NY Sales Tax in that field.

It seems that NJ sales tax does not appear either.

I am using your addon.

It still does not appear.

Any help would be apprectiated.

Thanks.

LadyG,

I just relized that if I am using your add on i dont use the default for tax with zen cart. am I right?

but now I seem to be getting another extra sales tax line.

please see attached.

Thanks again.

Thats a setting in the admin under
Configuration -> My Store -> Sales Tax Display Status

LadyHLG

thank you, thank you , thank you.

You are great!

LadyHLG, did you ever think that by creating a mod you would spend the rest of your life answering questions about it??? ;)

Anywho, I've installed your mod and it works flawlessly. Thank you very much for your contribution. I do have one quesition. How do I configure the In-Store pickup to support local taxes? If the store owner ships the package within the zip-code it works great, but if the customer selects in-store pickup, it only charges state tax?

Did I miss something?

Thanks in advance.

Hi LadyG,

me again.

I went through the cart and when I put in the suburb I get no tax here is a list I am using:

Hamilton County;St. Lawrence County;Saratoga County;Warren County;Washington County;Hamilton;St.Lawrence;Saratoga;Warren;Washington

the NJ one is working but there is only by zip.

here is a link:

http://monarchdecals.com/zencart/

any insights?

Thanks.

webman1,
Unfortunately I can't offer much in the way of insight from what I can see.

I can tell you that because the suburb field is an open text box whatever your customer enters there, it will have to match exactly whatever you set up for the local tax entry.
ie- if you have a local tax set up to match for "Hamilton County" in the suburb field then that's exactly what they will have to enter in order for it to match.

Its kind of a risky thing.

LadyHLG

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LadyHLG

webman1,
Unfortunately I can't offer much in the way of insight from what I can see.

I can tell you that because the suburb field is an open text box whatever your customer enters there, it will have to match exactly whatever you set up for the local tax entry.
ie- if you have a local tax set up to match for "Hamilton County" in the suburb field then that's exactly what they will have to enter in order for it to match.

Its kind of a risky thing.

LadyHLG

---

Thank you LadyG

can a dropdown be used for the suburbs?

My problem is that when I create a new Local Sales Taxes. The "Edit Tax Rate" has a Zone drop list for me to select the zone. But the drop list is empty. It only have "Select Zone". I want to select a zone of new york.

In "Admin -> Locations/Taxes -> Zones", I do have four pages of zones listing all the states (including new york).

In "Admin -> Configuration -> customer Detail -> State -Always display as pulldown" I have set as true.

I had installed 2.2 and 2.3 and ran the SQL statements. All else seems well. Except I can not select zone in the drop list.

Any ideas?

Quote:

---

Thank you LadyG

can a dropdown be used for the suburbs?

---

It can be done but will require quite a bit of hacking. There use to be directions on this but its been a long time since I've seen anything.

LadyHLG

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LadyHLG

It can be done but will require quite a bit of hacking. There use to be directions on this but its been a long time since I've seen anything.

LadyHLG

---

last question...I think.

do you know where that suburb field lives?

thanks.

I'm afraid not. I can tell you the field isn't in just one file as there are a couple of places where it can be edited.

LadyHLG

How do you turn off the debugging for this module?

Modules -> Order Total -> Local Sales Taxes ->
Debugging is active = False

LadyHLG

I'm looking for a Module that will recognize when someone from my state makes a purchase and will then automatically add my local sales tax rate to their total.
Will this module accomplish that?

Thank you,

Stephen

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jabbawest

I'm looking for a Module that will recognize when someone from my state makes a purchase and will then automatically add my local sales tax rate to their total.
Will this module accomplish that?

---

yes, it will.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nsirago

Google Checkout Solution
----

I have only tested this for about 5 minutes but it worked every time. :) Give this a shot to incorporate this mod into your Google Checkout.

In gcheckout.php (on or around line 719 there is a SQL query, I changed mine to:

$tax_result = $db->Execute("SELECT
zen_tax_rates_local.local_tax_id,
zen_tax_rates_local.zone_id,
zen_tax_rates_local.local_fieldmatch,
zen_tax_rates_local.local_datamatch,
zen_tax_rates_local.local_tax_rate,
zen_tax_rates_local.local_tax_label,
zen_tax_rates_local.local_tax_shipping,
zen_tax_rates_local.local_tax_class_id
FROM
zen_tax_rates_local
WHERE
zen_tax_rates_local.local_datamatch = " . SHIPPING_ORIGIN_ZIP . "");

on or around line 743 you should see
$rate = ((double)($tax_result->fields['tax_rate']))/100.0;
change that to
$rate = ((double)($tax_result->fields['local_tax_rate']))/100.0;

I also got rid of a few lines. You won't be able to copy/paste my changes but this will definitely get you 80% there. I have pasted the entire foreach below. Modify as necessary. I'm doing zip code lookups. It will only work with zip codes.

Code:

---

foreach($tax_array as $tax_table)  {

   
  $tax_result =  $db->Execute("SELECT
zen_tax_rates_local.local_tax_id,
zen_tax_rates_local.zone_id,
zen_tax_rates_local.local_fieldmatch,
zen_tax_rates_local.local_datamatch,
zen_tax_rates_local.local_tax_rate,
zen_tax_rates_local.local_tax_label,
zen_tax_rates_local.local_tax_shipping,
zen_tax_rates_local.local_tax_class_id
FROM
zen_tax_rates_local
WHERE
zen_tax_rates_local.local_datamatch = " . SHIPPING_ORIGIN_ZIP . "");
                                         
  $num_rows = $tax_result->RecordCount();
  $tax_rule = array();


  $GAtaxTable = new GoogleAlternateTaxTable((!empty($tax_name_array[$i])?$tax_name_array[$i]:'none'), 'false');

  for($j=0; $j<$num_rows; $j++) {
    $tax_result->MoveNext();


    $rate = ((double)($tax_result->fields['local_tax_rate']))/100.0;
    $GAtaxRule = new GoogleAlternateTaxRule($rate);
        $GAtaxRule->SetStateAreas("CA");
               
                           
    $GAtaxTable->AddAlternateTaxRules($GAtaxRule);
  }
  $i++;
  $Gcart->AddAlternateTaxTables($GAtaxTable); 
}

---

---

Sorry for the long quote, but this is the only post I can find related to local sales tax and Google Checkout.

I have ZC v 1.3.8a, Local Sales Tax 2.2 upgraded to 2.3, Google Checkout 1.4.7. Before I added the Local Sales Tax I was able to get to GC from my cart. With LST I get a page at GC that says:

:oops:"OOPS. We were unable to process your request."

I tried to implement this revision, changed zen_tax_rates_local to tax_rates_local since that is the current name of the table, and changed the SetStateAreas to "WA" since I am in Washington. I still get the OOPS message. I set the GC sort order to 99 thinking that might get to GC after calculating the tax. No luck there either.

Any help would be appreciated. I see a lot of other folks from Washington here with problems created by our tax structure.

Really, I am trying to understand the instructions in the 2.3 readme but, what I really need this module to do is make everyone in the state of Texas pay the sales tax of 8.25%.

Do I need to make ALL of the per county edits to make this happen?

Thank you

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jabbawest

Really, I am trying to understand the instructions in the 2.3 readme but, what I really need this module to do is make everyone in the state of Texas pay the sales tax of 8.25%.

Do I need to make ALL of the per county edits to make this happen?

Thank you

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If all you want to do is charge 8.25% for all of Texas then you do not need this module for that. The zen cart zones will do this on its own.

LadyHLG

Hi there
I've successfully built and launched my very first ZenCart store!
The only persistent problem seems to be sales tax (or lack thereof).
I have yet to be able to get sales tax to show up in an order total.
I went through the step-by-step instructions in the Tutorials section (just so happens the physical address of the store is in Colorado!)
I thought that this Local Sales Tax mod would be the solution, but still can't seem to get it.
Can anyone maybe go through the basics of setting up sales tax on a ZenCart store?
The site's live and luckily the owner is super chill about this, but I'd really like to get this puppy buttered up and rockin'.

tdblanchard,
How to set up taxes really depends on how you need to charge them.
Are you charging a state wide tax? Do you need a local tax by zip code or city name? Or maybe its some combination of both.
Can you provide more information?

LadyHLG

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zcnb

For the benefit of NEW installs (i.e. not updates/upgrades) of this mod, I am including a .tgz file that, if you place in the store's root (aka 'catalog' or top-level directory) and perform a tar -zxvf, it will copy all necessary files in one step.

This can prevent problems of forgetting to copy one (or more) of the .php files nested in the various subdirectories (as happened to me).

Please note: this file is attached as a ZIP file, but it is not a zip file. You need to change its extension to .tgz or .tar.gz before attempting to ran 'tar -zxvf' on it.

LadyHLG, you are welcome to include this in your package (along with clear instructions as how to use it).

Here are the instructions how to use this file:

1. Copy local_sales_tax_mod_2.2.2.zip to your store's <catalog> directory (usually "store" or "shop").
2. Rename it to local_sales_tax_mod_2.2.2.tgz
3. Run (from the shell) the following command:
4. tar -zxvf local_sales_tax_mod_2.2.2.tgz
5. Delete the file local_sales_tax_mod_2.2.2.tgz

LadyHLG, if you want to generate this file for future versions, the way to do this from the command line is:

Code:

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cd LocalSalesTaxModv2.2/FullVersion/catalog
 tar --owner 0 --group 0 -zcvf local_sales_tax_mod_2.2.2.tgz *

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I hope this will be helpful to others as much as it is helpful to me.

Daniel

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I've done this but i don't see the tax prompt come up in the check out...

If you have install and set up the mod and you are not seeing any tax, you may need to change the mod's sort order.

Modules -> Order total

LadyHLG

do you have a suggested number? this is designer for 1.3.8 right?

It usually has to be a number higher than the cart tax.
But every cart set up is different, so you may have to play with the numbers a bit.
And, yes this is for 1.3.8.

LadyHLG

Is there a sales tax mod that works with Washington State destination sales tax and calls the state lookup tool? I am using a 1.38 cart. Thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by partyguy

Is there a sales tax mod that works with Washington State destination sales tax and calls the state lookup tool? I am using a 1.38 cart. Thanks.

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I'm not aware of an existing Zen Cart mod for washington destination tax specifically. There are about 4 to 6 threads on this going back to 2008 (search for washington destination sales tax) and each thread has died off with no concrete results. It would be nice to know what other Washington businesses using Zen Cart are doing. My cart is still in development and I haven't researched the destination tax enough to figure out a easy solution (other than non-compliance).

[Moderator Comment]
Might be good to continue such discussion in one of the threads already devoted to the topic of Washington destination sales tax, rather than hijacking this one.

Hi LadyHLG,

Hope you're having a good holiday weekend. First off thank you for the great contribution. I've been trying to upgrade from a previous to the most current version but have run into a problem. I was on 1.0 or 1.1 (not positive, it was so long ago) and followed the upgrade instructions to go up to 2.0a first, then 2.2, then added 2.3 (per instructions that 2.3 was upgrade only). I seem to be close but I see 2 things wrong, maybe you can help pinpoint the problem which seem debug related. I've gone back and done manual file by file comparisons with the 2.2 and 2.3 upgrade files and everything seems like it's right.

1) I don't seem to have the Debug Option visible in the admin in Modules -> Order Total -> Local Sales Tax.
2) On the payment page during checkout it lists a line for every single local tax rate in the following format. Seems like the debug option is on which I can't turn off in admin because of issue #1.

Local Tax Rec ID: 2196
Tax Name: 11201 NYC Sales Tax 4.375% - 6.13

[etc...lists 2205 of these, one for each local sales tax]

Tax based on customer shipping zone 43
2205 matching tax zones found

Appreciate the mod contribution and all your help...hope you have a good holiday weekend.

thanks,
Don

Hi Don,
Somewhere in your upgrade process you missed the step to remove and then reinstall the mod.
Its a simple process. Just go to the Admin,
Modules -> Order Total -> Local Sales Tax, make note of your settings there and then uninstall the mod (just click the remove button at the top). Dont worry, you wont loose your tax data. Once its been uninstalled, reinstall it. You should now see the debugging options in the admin.
Hope that helps.
Have a good weekend.
LadyHLG

Hi LadyHLG,

Thanks for your feedback. I thought I did do that but apparently not. To verify, after uninstalling through Admin, Modules -> Order Total -> Local Sales Tax which instructions do I follow to re-install?

When I read for the instructions for 2.3 it said that version was for upgrade only, and to install 2.2 first. So I went to 2.2 and looked at the instructions for upgrade which told me to install 2.0a first. 2.0a's install instructions said if I had 1.1 (which I believe I did) just do an upgrade to get to 2.0a. I did that, and then did an upgrade to 2.2, then I installed the 2.3 upgrade. Are those the wrong steps? Should I just go straight to a particular version?

thanks,
Don

Quote:

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Originally Posted by donplay

Hi LadyHLG,

Hope you're having a good holiday weekend. First off thank you for the great contribution. I've been trying to upgrade from a previous to the most current version but have run into a problem. I was on 1.0 or 1.1 (not positive, it was so long ago) and followed the upgrade instructions to go up to 2.0a first, then 2.2, then added 2.3 (per instructions that 2.3 was upgrade only). I seem to be close but I see 2 things wrong, maybe you can help pinpoint the problem which seem debug related. I've gone back and done manual file by file comparisons with the 2.2 and 2.3 upgrade files and everything seems like it's right.

1) I don't seem to have the Debug Option visible in the admin in Modules -> Order Total -> Local Sales Tax.
2) On the payment page during checkout it lists a line for every single local tax rate in the following format. Seems like the debug option is on which I can't turn off in admin because of issue #1.

Local Tax Rec ID: 2196
Tax Name: 11201 NYC Sales Tax 4.375% - 6.13

[etc...lists 2205 of these, one for each local sales tax]

Tax based on customer shipping zone 43
2205 matching tax zones found

Appreciate the mod contribution and all your help...hope you have a good holiday weekend.

thanks,
Don

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Ah...nevermind. After doing all those steps I just did the uninstall/re-install through admin and the debug statements have gone away on the payment page. Seems like I'm good!

I did all the steps for upgrade on my test server. I'm going to do it on the real server today but wanted to ask - do I have to take all those incremental upgrade steps from 1.1 to 2.0a, then to 2.2, then to 2.3, or is there a more straightforward way to upgrade from 1.1 to 2.3?

thanks,
Don

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LadyHLG

psychicpet,
In order to upload the data you will need to get the data organized first. The data provided as is from the state of CA will not work as I am sure there are duplicate city names (this happens when a city spans more than one county and therefore may have different tax rates for different parts of the city in each county). The only way you can have duplicate city names is if you are using counties as zones and each city name is linked to a different zone (i.e county). This is not a simple process, but is much more accurate than assigining a single tax rate to a city name.

If you do not want to use the cities by county method then you will have remove all the duplicate city names otherwise you will run into problems with the tax mod.

Once you get the data organized that far I can help you get it into the proper format to upload via mysql.

LadyHLG

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Has any one gotten this to work for CA? We are working on a cart for a customer in CA, who would like to accurately collect CA sales tax. If so, would that some body be willing to share their findings with us?

Don,
Unfortunately I do believe you have to go through each step, as each one adds different components.
LadyHLG

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jprough

Has any one gotten this to work for CA? We are working on a cart for a customer in CA, who would like to accurately collect CA sales tax. If so, would that some body be willing to share their findings with us?

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I too would be interested in this. I'm just in the process of uploading version 2.0a of this mod and will eventually have to do something similar to you. why can't all the tax zones be the same? :censored:

fortunately we have this help thread to save us (hopefully) :lookaroun

I have the most recent version of zencart (installed last week) and just downloaded version 2.0a of this mod. The installation instructions said to "(1) Copy all files inside the catalog folder to your cart"

So I see an "admin" and an "include" subfolder. Each of those have many different subfolders. Last time I tried to install someone else's mod I messed everything up and had to reinstall zencart. This explains what I think is a very basic question:

After opening all the subfolders, I see there are a total of 8 php files that come with the "local sales tax" mod. I'm assuming that rather than copying any of the subfolders, I should just locate the individual files and then copy them separately into my Store/Admin/wherever
according to the individual series of folders and subfolders shown in the tax mod that I downloaded?

Snicklefritz,
If moving the files over one at a time is how you wish to do it then go ahead that will work just fine.
Might a suggest you back up your database and site files before you start. That way if anything happens all you have to do is return to the backup files and start over.

Good luck withe the install.

LadyHLG

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LadyHLG

Snicklefritz,
If moving the files over one at a time is how you wish to do it then go ahead that will work just fine.
Might a suggest you back up your database and site files before you start. That way if anything happens all you have to do is return to the backup files and start over.

Good luck withe the install.

LadyHLG

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ok I copied everything over. How do I run the sql file? (I'm really new at this)

In the cart admin go to Tools -> Install SQL Patches

From there you can either upload the sql file or copy and paste the contents of the file.

Good Luck,
LadyHLG

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LadyHLG

In the cart admin go to Tools -> Install SQL Patches

From there you can either upload the sql file or copy and paste the contents of the file.

Good Luck,
LadyHLG

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I tried what you suggested when I tried to upload but nothing new appears in Modules..Order totals. What I see is shown below.
I thought maybe I did something wrong so I tried cutting and pasting but I get an error saying the following:
Failed: 1
Error ERROR: Cannot create table tax_rates_local because it already exists
Warning Note: 1 statements ignored. See "upgrade_exceptions" table for additional details.


=====================

COD Fee
Discount Coupon
Group Discount
Gift Certificates
Low Order Fee
Shipping
Sub-Total
Tax
Total
Module Directory: /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/htdocs/Store/includes/modules/order_total/

Update: I went back through some of the earlier threads and noticed that a similar problem was described in posts 16 and 40. I made sure to include the semicolon when cutting and pasting, but unlike in post #40, that didn't solve the problem. I also looked in my zencart database and on the bar on the left I see tax_rates_local listed there. When I click on it, I see 8 different fields listed in the center of the screen, including "local_tax_id", "zone_id", "local_fieldmatch"...

So it appears the table is in the database, but this is getting into things I'm not that familiar with but hopefully there's a simple explanation for what's going on.

Snicklefritz,
Unfortunately, if you are not seeing the mod listed under Modules -> Order Totals then the most likely reason is you have not copied all of the files over correctly.

I'm afraid that is about as much as I can help at this point based on the info so far.

LadyHLG

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LadyHLG

Snicklefritz,
Unfortunately, if you are not seeing the mod listed under Modules -> Order Totals then the most likely reason is you have not copied all of the files over correctly.

I'm afraid that is about as much as I can help at this point based on the info so far.

LadyHLG

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Maybe part of the problem is the Admin folder. There are two admin folders, htdocs/Admin and htdocs/Store/Admin.

I put the local_tax files in the first one, but after moving them to the second one then it installed properly. Makes me wonder why there are two admin folders, but at least the tax thing installed...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by robarb

Hello, LadyHLG.

I absolutely love your local sales tax module and have it working with all 1700+ cities in California. But I have two questions...
1) If a customer enters their city name without proper capitalization, it doesn't get charged tax. I saw a fix on the old forum posting but it doesn't seem to work now. Any ideas?
2) Do you know of any way to correlate the zip code and city (or look up the city based on zip code) to make sure they are properly related?

Thanks again for an incredibly useful mod.

Rob

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Rob,

May I ask what you did to get this working for all 1700+ cities? I've downloaded a csv file posted in an earlier message and am now digging around trying to find out how to upload this using mySQL or whatever it's called...I'd like to do tax rate by city but I can't imagine doing this by hand. :wacko:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LadyHLG

Rob,
1. As far as my testing has shown the following should work to take care of the city capitalization issue.
At or about line 168:
Change: This

Code:

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if($myfield == $value){

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to this

Code:

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if(strtolower($myfield) == strtolower($value)){

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From what I have seen that works.
If it is not working for you then I will need a more specific example.


LadyHLG

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Which php file should be modified? All 9 of them or is it only in certain ones?

edit: Thanks LadyH for helping me get this far. I know my questions are pretty basic but thanks for taking the time to answer them. I'm now able to create test customers and see that the tax is being calculated correctly for the few cities that I have entered manually.

Hi Snicklefritz, Here is what I found when I was looking in to this for a customer of ours.

First I would suggest you refer to Publication 105 at the California Board of Equalization web site. After finding this document in a Google search I actually called the California Board of Equalization for clarification.

Long story made short. You don't have to charge each individual district rates. You only have to charge for the district(s) you hold a business presence in. The catch here is that if you deliver out side of your district using your company vehicle, the you have a presence in that district, and there for have to collect the tax. Any California orders out side of districts you have a presence, IE you ship via Fedex,UPS or USPS you are only required to collect the California sales tax of 8.25%.

What we did was set up a zone for Ca of 8.25. Then used this mod to ad one more zone with each zip code with in this costumers county. Any one with one of these zip codes gets charged an additional 0.5%

Hope this helps

This Local Sales Tax Mod made it a lot easyer than we expected. This is a great mod, Thanks LadyHLG

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jprough

Hi Snicklefritz, Here is what I found when I was looking in to this for a customer of ours.

First I would suggest you refer to Publication 105 at the California Board of Equalization web site. After finding this document in a Google search I actually called the California Board of Equalization for clarification.

Long story made short. You don't have to charge each individual district rates. You only have to charge for the district(s) you hold a business presence in. The catch here is that if you deliver out side of your district using your company vehicle, the you have a presence in that district, and there for have to collect the tax. Any California orders out side of districts you have a presence, IE you ship via Fedex,UPS or USPS you are only required to collect the California sales tax of 8.25%.

What we did was set up a zone for Ca of 8.25. Then used this mod to ad one more zone with each zip code with in this costumers county. Any one with one of these zip codes gets charged an additional 0.5%

Hope this helps

This Local Sales Tax Mod made it a lot easier than we expected. This is a great mod, Thanks LadyHLG

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Many thanks for your post. This simplifies things considerably! Looks like I just have to add the info for zipcodes in alameda county. :clap:

To jprough:

I set this up and am able to get the correct taxes when shipping addresses are within my county. However, no tax is charged when the shipping addresses are within california, but outside my county.

The drop down menu for field selector is showing zipcode, city and suburb. I'm using version 2.0a of this mod in case that makes a difference. What should I change to fix the problem I'm having?